Animal leaders and helpers: from the classical tales of Charles Perrault to the postmodern fables of Angela Carter and Patrick Chamoiseau

Abstract

This article aims to show how animal fables and tales, thanks to, rather than in spite of, their metaphorical or allegorical content, can broaden our perceptions and constructions of interspecies relationships. It considers to what degree the presence of the natural world and animals is used by writers to challenge not only the moral conventions and expected structures of these literary forms, but also traditional images of non-human beings, of the natural world and of human relationships with non-human beings. The fundamental role of these genres in promoting human and non-human relationships and offering new constructions of nature-culture will be outlined, analysing ‘Le Chat botte’ [‘Puss-in-Boots’], one of the founding Western tales, together with one of its contemporary interpretations by Angela Carter to illustrate those points, before broadening the conclusion with reference to a Creole animal tale by contemporary Martiniquan writer Patrick Chamoiseau.